THE FUTURE‘S SO BRIGHT…..2013-2014

[shocker22]

Let me just say that I will be surprised if Tekele Cotton is not starting.

Who would you start him over Baker, or Wessell?

[KC Shox]

CJ is Chadrack Lufile.

Speaking of, did anyone see him on the History Channel last night? Dude was ON FIRE!

People are up in arms as it looked like Obama.

[RoyalShock]

People are up in arms as it looked like Obama.

Chadrack looked nothing like Obama. Satan on the other hand . . .

[The Mad Hatter]

Who would you start him over Baker, or Wessell?

Wessell (although Evan should get plenty of playing time). One of the reasons Evan got the start over Tekele early this year is the back and wrist injuries that TC had and the practice time he missed with them.

[shockmonster]

Let me just say that I will be surprised if Tekele Cotton is not starting.

You may be right. But our best player next year will be Ron Baker. He may not be quite as good on defense (pretty close though) as TC but he can do everything else as good or better.

[C0|dB|00ded]

I would not be adverse to Jake White transferring. To put it simply, he sticks out like a sore thumb. His feet are slow, he is slow, this team is fast. He can't hit a three to save Princess Peach but yet continues to take them. When he was recruited, this team was in a different place. Jake would be awesome in a UNI uniform. He is the prototype Ben Jacobson player. I just don't feel like he fits the team anymore.
He is a great kid, and a good ball player, he just doesn't fit the bill for his position on this team. He could transfer to a mid major and be awesome. I just think Marshall has evolved the offense away from the style that would allow Jake to flourish.

I feel exactly the same way. Jake is slow and loses his man often mostly due to his lack of quickness. If he continues to improve (in the system) perhaps he will have a part in helping the team win, but as it stands now, most of his break-out performances are when the game is already in hand. There is a reason why coach plays him so little.

I would not be totally surprised to see Jake start at the 4 next season with Cle at the 3. I'm not saying it will happen, but I would not be shocked.

I would not be shocked, I would be crying. To go from a guy that has spent his entire sophomore season playing walk-on minutes to a starter the following year... something terrible would have to happen to our depth in 2013-2014. Of course there's the possibility that JW improves by 150% over the summer.. you gotta leave that option open...

Kyle wilson, Matt B. and Hatch were three of the best players we have had over the last 10yrs and this decade has seen its share of good players and lots of sucess on the court. Jake is not a superstar but is vital to our team in going forward. He is actually playing some of his best basketball right now, and I feel he knows his role and he likes his role. Every team needs a scrapy player like Jake, and I think Marshall sees his value too.

I disagree with pretty much all of this post. Also, if HCGM sees JW's value, he is doing a pretty good job of restraining it because JW gets about as many important minutes as I do in the game.

You may be right. But our best player next year will be Ron Baker. He may not be quite as good on defense (pretty close though) as TC but he can do everything else as good or better.

If Ron Baker is our best player next year we won't even sniff the dance. Mark my words.

I like Ron and he has potential, but he has never shot it like he did during the summer. Until I see him light it up in games, I will reserve anointing him as the second coming. Without Hall next year, we are going to have to see Cle' turn into the NBA force that he has the potential to be. If that doesn't happen, or a couple of our freshman big-men don't step in and dominate immediately (unlikely), or Coleby doesn't become a force down low.. we are in deeeep doo doo.

RB is a smart, tough player, and I expect him to be very good for the Shockers, but I don't think he will even be our most impressive guard. That award is going to FVV and it shouldn't even be close.


T


...:cool:

[C0|dB|00ded]

Who is CJ? Unless Coleby is going to average ten rebounds a game we are really going to NEED Jake and need defensive rebound improvement from Cle.

To say we need a player specifically for rebounds is ludicrous. Anybody can rebound with proper effort. Even guards can lead a team in rebounds. We need multi-SKILLED players who can score and defend. HCGM can teach anybody to rebound (with sufficient athletic talent). It isn't rocket science.


T


...:cool:

[SHOXAAC]

To say we need a player specifically for rebounds is ludicrous. Anybody can rebound with proper effort. Even guards can lead a team in rebounds. We need multi-SKILLED players who can score and defend. HCGM can teach anybody to rebound (with sufficient athletic talent). It isn't rocket science.


T


...:cool:

Rebounding is a lot about anticipation of shooting angles as well. EO has more than "sufficient athletic talent," however under performed in the rebounding department because of his deficiency in anticipation. Wasn't his fault, as he did the best he could, but anticipation has much to do with experience as a young boy growing up playing thousands of hours of basketball as anything else. EO just didn't have that luxury.

[garylee]

The above commentary is laughable. I'm afraid you have exposed yourself and your level of basketball knowledge yet again. I only read T's posts for comic relief.

[C0|dB|00ded]

Rebounding is a lot about anticipation of shooting angles as well. EO has more than "sufficient athletic talent," however under performed in the rebounding department because of his deficiency in anticipation. Wasn't his fault, as he did the best he could, but anticipation has much to do with experience as a young boy growing up playing thousands of hours of basketball as anything else. EO just didn't have that luxury.

Anticipation could also be stated as positioning. I player trained to think rebound first will always be considering his positioning before and after the shot is released. Of course if you lack size, speed, and/or height, you are limited to what you can position yourself for.

It's the same for steals. You have to maintain a thief mentality if you want to have a lot of steals. MA talks about "taking risks" to get the ball away from people. If you aren't constantly thinking about taking risks, you aren't going to get many steals. MA is the epitome of a risk-taker.

I think EO often suffers from poor positioning because of his penchant for going for the block - a risky move that often leaves one out of position for rebounds. You would think though that EO is quick enough to recover most times. With EO's height and athletic advantage, he should be able to strip the ball from most people with equal position simply due to his God-given tools. Perhaps it is due to his hands, or maybe he has vision issues.. or possibly due to his lack of focus on that particular task. It is quite clear that EO focuses on screens first, and blocks second, and scoring a very distant 9th.

And while there is a skill to rebounding, it is first and foremost all about effort. You gotta want it and you gotta go after it. Gregg Marshall doesn't recruit rebounders, he recruits the biggest and quickest athletes he can sign. Then he teaches them the fundamentals and then reinforces his demands for intensity through practice. A person with a "knack" for rebounding is a person that focuses on that aspect of their game intensely ala JW. Those that are expected to score may not always have that "luxury" due to their attack angles on offense and/or their lack of effort allocated on defense. Of course perimeter shooters will generally not light the scorecard up with rebounds unless they are the type that chase their shots. I believe we played against a point guard this year in the OOC that was particularly "adept" at snagging rebounds because he was always looking for them.


T


...:cool:

[CBB_Fan]

Next year, our best overall guard will be Ron Baker, but our best player will/should be Early. Baker is nearly a perfect guard for Marshall's system, capable of playing high level defense, rebounding, shooting from the perimeter, and playing a little of all three guard spots. He isn't the best shooter, or the best defender, or the best PG, but he is a versatile piece that Marshall is going to use as much as possible.

Early has some big steps he needs to take over the offseason. He needs to develop a penetration game, and work on developing his options on offense. Right now, he is too easily contained because he doesn't have a lot of ways to score. Don't let him get space for the 3, and pack the paint. He needs to work on his left hand, scoring off the dribble, and on his footwork (especially on defense; he uses his arms instead of his legs too much). If he can do all the above, he should be one of the best players in the nation next year, and the almost sure-fire MVC PoY.

We should be a very good perimeter team next year, but the question will be our depth in the post. I have every confidence that Coleby will be a good center for us, but we need one of Shaq, Watson, and Lufile to step up (assuming Jake White is already a rotation player). If we can get some quality minutes from our posts, we might see Early play some 3, but I think he will play 4 almost all the time, and maybe even play some 5. For example, I could Marshall using a line-up of Van Vleet, Baker, Cotton, Green, and Early to stretch defenses.

Our biggest weapon next year will be the 3. White will get garbage points (not a derogatory term, just means we won't run much for him), and both Early and Coleby should score a lot of points the paint, but almost all the rest of our lineup will be shooters. Even if Jake White doesn't find his shot, we will have Van Vleet, Cotton, Baker, Wessel, Green, Wiggins, Holland, and Early. That means we will have 8 players in our lineup that can shoot the 3 ball (that bigger than a lot of teams entire lineup!). We should have little to no problems attacking a zone with that many threats. What we will need is penetration, which means that those players will need to work on attacking off the dribble.

I think next year's team should be better. We'll get little publicity in the offseason (like always), but the expectations should be an outright MVC title and tournament championship, along with another trip to the dance.

[another shocker]

we'll miss hall so much next year. early absolutely needs to grow from man-child to man's man. coleby is an upgrade at center.. so we've got that going for us.

[Shockeriffic]

Anticipation could also be stated as positioning. I player trained to think rebound first will always be considering his positioning before and after the shot is released. Of course if you lack size, speed, and/or height, you are limited to what you can position yourself for.

It's the same for steals. You have to maintain a thief mentality if you want to have a lot of steals. MA talks about "taking risks" to get the ball away from people. If you aren't constantly thinking about taking risks, you aren't going to get many steals. MA is the epitome of a risk-taker.

I think EO often suffers from poor positioning because of his penchant for going for the block - a risky move that often leaves one out of position for rebounds. You would think though that EO is quick enough to recover most times. With EO's height and athletic advantage, he should be able to strip the ball from most people with equal position simply due to his God-given tools. Perhaps it is due to his hands, or maybe he has vision issues.. or possibly due to his lack of focus on that particular task. It is quite clear that EO focuses on screens first, and blocks second, and scoring a very distant 9th.

And while there is a skill to rebounding, it is first and foremost all about effort. You gotta want it and you gotta go after it. Gregg Marshall doesn't recruit rebounders, he recruits the biggest and quickest athletes he can sign. Then he teaches them the fundamentals and then reinforces his demands for intensity through practice. A person with a "knack" for rebounding is a person that focuses on that aspect of their game intensely ala JW. Those that are expected to score may not always have that "luxury" due to their attack angles on offense and/or their lack of effort allocated on defense. Of course perimeter shooters will generally not light the scorecard up with rebounds unless they are the type that chase their shots. I believe we played against a point guard this year in the OOC that was particularly "adept" at snagging rebounds because he was always looking for them.


T


...:cool:

I never liked the general term rebounding. Offensive and defensive rebounding are different skills that require different abilities to succeed. Defensive rebounding is all about positioning and fundamentals. The best per minute defensive rebounder is Jake White but Orupke is not far behind him. Offensive rebounding is more about athleticism and tenacity. Carl Hall is the best per minute offensive rebounder on the team followed by Orupke and Early.

[wusphlash]

Shooting, rebounding, ball handling, passing and defense. Using this criteria Ron Baker will be the best all around player we have next year. I think the biggest thing we missed during his absence was the passing. It was interesting to note in St. Louis that, against zones, Gregg brought Ron to the high post so he could try and distribute to the bigs. That was the only time all year I can remember him doing that with a 1,2 or 3. Says something about his passing ability.

I would really like to move Cle to the 3. To do that he is going to have to work hard this summer on the ball handling part of his game. He needs to be able to take the ball from the wing to the basket and finish strong. If he wants to go to the next level this is a must. I'll give Nick minutes at the 3 as well assuming his offensive contribution will always outweigh any defensive liabilities. Getting bigger and stronger will help.

Fred needs to become an 80%+ free throw shooter not 65%. He obviously has the feel for the game and likes to push the ball (I like). Will look even better with other good passers running with him.

The question becomes the 4 and 5. Kadeem, from what I saw in the pre-season scrimmage, is a physical force. Jake is Jake. Shoots over 50% from inside the arc and scraps and claws for every loose ball. Gregg thinks enough to play him extensively in St. Louis. Trust in Gregg. Shaq will only be a freshman but shows me great hands and the ability to finish. One issue I have with this years big men is their trying to finish below the rim rather than at or above. He seems to like shooting down. How quickly he adjusts to D1 will be the question. I have a lot of questions about Chadrack and Earl. If one of them comes through, we have a 4 man rotation inside. If not we still have Cle that can spend some time at the 4.

Gregg's always been very good about distributing minutes so I'm not worried about anyone not getting an opportunity to showcase. As always, those that provide the effort, those that do the little things will get the lion's share.

[C0|dB|00ded]

Jake is Jake. Shoots over 50% from inside the arc and scraps and claws for every loose ball. Gregg thinks enough to play him extensively in St. Louis. Trust in Gregg.

JW did a lot of nice things in St. Louis LAST year. That's why many of us expected more out of him this year. He needs to work hard in the off-season and continue to get stronger and faster and hopefully build on his last couple games. Of course he still can improve in the NCAA's but I doubt he is going to get much minutes. If he does, it might mean we are in trouble.


T


...:cool: